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If you have a computer that is starting to slow down, you may be thinking that it is time for a new one. However, before you make the decision to purchase new, it is worth at least considering an upgrade. The first thing I would look at is the RAM. If you are able to add significant capacity for a low cost, you may be able to get a few more years out of your aging PC. By significant capacity, I am talking at least 1 GB if not more. However, if you aren’t able to add much more RAM, you may want to consider an SSD drive. Also, if you do decide to purchase a new PC, this article can help you decide if you want your new PC to have an SSD drive.

I was reading an article from computer world recently. This article is a bit dated, but proves a good point, that SSD technology is much faster than SATA technology. In this article, computer world is able to show that the SSD started up 100% faster, restarted almost 50% faster, and had read/write times that were double as fast as the SATA drive. This article was written a few years ago and SSD speeds have only improved in the recent years. By contrast, SATA drives have seen little improvement in recent years. Also, SSD drive prices are still high, but they have come down quite a bit over the past year or so. Due to all these factors, you may want to consider an upgrade if you think this will bring your computer back up to speed. For me personally, I would consider this if my PC had at least 2GB of RAM and a multi-core processor. If my current PC specs were below this threshold, I would opt for a new PC. Hopefully this can help you decide if an upgrade is worth the money and effort.

If you do decide for a new PC, I would recommend going for a SSD drive for your primary OS drive and then adding a large, cheap SATA drive for your file storage and non-essential programs. This will really allow Windows to work quickly.

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Nowadays, Internet crimes are more and more present and sophisticated. There are more and more ways of damaging the computers these days. Therefore there is a certain need for Internet police to be present and prevent the illegalities that occur on the Internet.

The Internet crimes are illegal actions that are made from one computer to another one through the means of Internet. Hacking or online sexual predating are among these possible crimes. The growing wave of internet crimes makes people more aware of cyber police needs. The detection, analysis and investigation of Internet crimes should be made by people who know these Internet types of crimes and are specialized on them.

The careers in this domain of cyber policing are great opportunities for normal people. There is a misconception that you need all kinds of degrees for this job, but the truth is you really do not. You can begin your career in this domain having any degree and not the Information Security only.

The experience is the most important aspect for getting this job and not the degrees you have. Also, knowledge about information technology is a good way to start with. Cryptography and technical framework are the basic requirements for applying to this cyber cop job.

The general perception is that the areas covered by this type of work are only computers. In reality things are much different. There are careers in FBI that track Internet crimes and investigate them. The range of position is relatively wide. You can choose to become a cyber engineer or a cryptanalyst or even a cyber security analyst.>Also, there are jobs for those who lonely want to collect the evidence and those are the ones who will work basically with computers only.

The demand for cyber police are huge as the crime wave on the Internet does not stop and becomes more and more complicated and sophisticated. There is a need for specialists to fight these crimes. Experience and education are needed in these jobs like in any other jobs. These careers are seen as extremely lucrative as they are well paid and therefore many people try to become a cyber policeman.

Computers have to be protected whether they are used for personal purposes or for business. The cyber security is a prevention unit firstly and an intervention one secondly. However, you need to protect your computer using firewalls, antivirus programs and learning the basic protection things about Internet security.If you will fail to do so, even cyber police will have a lot of trouble helping you. You may end up losing your personal photos, valuable information or your money on the Internet.

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Steve jobs, the greatest consumer gadget inventor of modern day history has died at the age of 56. According to a statement by the family, he died on October 5, 2011 ‘…peacefully in his sleep.’ The cause of death has not been made public. However, Steve Jobs had a liver transplant and was struggling with a rare form of pancreatic cancer. Apple’s homepage switched to a full-page image of Jobs and reads: “Steve Jobs 1955-2011″.

Apple immediately released a press statement: ” We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today. Steve’s brilliance, passion, and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve. His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.

Steve Jobs was the co-founder of the first personal computer, Apple II that he developed with Childhood friend Steve Wozniak. He gave the tablet computer a new meaning and made smart phones great. Many experts have grouped Steve Jobs in the same category as Thomas Edison.

President Obama says: “Steve was among the greatest of American innovators-brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.”

Bob Iger, the CEO of Walt Disney has this to say of the late Steve Jobs: “Steve was such an ‘original,’ with a thoroughly creative, imaginative mind that defined an era. Despite all he accomplished, it feels like he was just getting started.”

The co-founder of Yahoo! Jerry Yang paid respect by saying: “He not only gave me a lot of personal advice and encouragement, he showed all of us how innovation can change lives.”

Michael Dell, the CEO and founder Dell Inc said of Steve Passing: “Today the world lost a visionary leader, the technology industry lost an iconic legend, and I lost a friend and fellow founder. The legacy of Steve jobs will be remembered for generations to come. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and to the Apple team.”

Even Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder has something good to say about the icon: “Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you.”

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Windows 8 is still in development and Microsoft is yet to announce a shipment date but I can’t wait to share what I think about Windows 8 pre-beta. The new OS will run on laptops, desktops, netbooks, servers, media center PCs, and tablet PCs. The pre-beta version for developers is out and I was able to run it on my HP laptop built for Windows 7. So far, I have a bittersweet taste in my mouth about Windows 8. Although installation of Windows was smooth, the Metro user interface is quite confusing. The Metro UI seems like it would be best for Smartphones, not notebooks.

Let’s start with the good news. I was excited to work on a new operating system. It took about 10 seconds to boot. It has secured boot, superb Smart Screen, reset/refresh pc, and client hyper-v. Now, companies, for the first time, will be able to integrate their employees tablet PCs into their networks. I am sure that many network administrators welcome this news.

Next, there is definitely a good reason why enterprise users should not upgrade to Windows 8. That is simply because in Windows 7, the enterprise Desktop mode is Windows 7. This is a problem that Microsoft will have to deal with if they want people to migrate en mass.

On my laptop, now running on Windows 8, I was able to use the classic Start menu, like in Windows 7. I was able to do this the same way I could choose the Metro UI. So, if users upgrade and the don’t like the Metro UI, they can go back to a Windows 7 look and feel.

The bad news is that Windows 8, without the Metro interface, is very similar to Windows 7. Nothing has really changed. In the past, people get excited when there is a launch of a new Microsoft operating system due to new features, look, and feel. That excitement and rush has effectively faded out. In fact, the technology World is more anxious for the next iPhone to hit the market than they are about Windows 8.

One more thing, Microsoft is also trying to keep older versions of Windows, Linux, and other operating systems off Windows 8 computers. That means users may not be able to dual boot their computers. By dual booting, as it is today, one could have both Windows 7 and Linux operating systems on a computer. This might not be the case in the future.

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Windows 7 is the most demanding Windows operating system to date. It requires at least 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of hard drive space, and recommends a multi-core processor. Due to these tough requirements, it could help you out to tweak Windows 7 to run more efficiently.

Disable Visual Effects

The visual effects in Windows 7 are nice and add to the experience. They aren’t that great if your computer is running really slowly though. To get a speed boost, you can use the steps below to disable the visual effect.

Locate and right click on “Computer” and then select “Properties”.

Click on “Advanced System Settings”.

In the new window that just opened up, select the “Advanced” tab in it.

Next, uncheck all of the options and select only the last four options.

Click Save and then restart your computer. Keep in mind you can always undo what you just did.

Disable the Aero Theme

The Aero theme is another cosmetic improvement in Windows 7. However, it can really slow the PC down. The Aero user interface really taxes your graphics card and your CPU. If you need the extra speed, then it is not a bad idea to disable it.

Right Click on your Desktop and select “Personalize”.

Click the Window Color Tab.

Uncheck the Box that says “Enable Transparency” and then click on “Open classic appearance properties for more color options”.

Next, a window will open up.

Apply either the Standard or Basic theme from it. We would recommend the Standard theme.

Defragment Your Hard Drive

If you haven’t defragmented your hard drive in a while, you should take the time to do this. You can get to this by clicking start, in the search box type “defragment”, and then by clicking on the defragmentation tool.

Have a USB drive sitting around? Use Windows ReadyBoost

ReadyBoost is a feature in Windows 7 that allows you to add system memory by connecting a flash drive. If you are on the low-end when it comes to memory, this is a good thing to try. Keep in mind that it is better to just buy more memory then to go out and buy a flash drive for this only.

Clean the Hard Drive

Windows 7 needs a certain amount of free disk space to function properly. Moving or deleting old programs, files, and folders can help your hard drive run more efficiently.

Stop Unneeded Programs from Automatically Starting Up

You can make your Windows 7 machine run faster by only starting up programs as they are needed. There are probably quite a few unneeded programs that you didn’t even know were opening at startup. To manage windows startup, click start, type “msconfig” in the search box, hit the enter key, and click on the startup tab. From here you can disable programs that you don’t want Windows to automatically start up.

Turn Off Desktop Gadgets

Every Gadget you add requires system resources to run. You can turn some or all of these gadgets off. Turn them off by typing “gadgets” into the start menu search bar, choose “View list of running gadgets” and then select each gadget you want to get rid of and click Remove.

We recently got emailed by one of our readers about Auslogics BoostSpeed 5 when it comes to fixing a slow PC. We thought this was a blog-worthy topic and figured we would take the time to give Auslogics BoostSpeed a test run. Before we get to into the article, we wanted to note that you can find Auslogics BoostSpeed here.

Download and Install Process

We went to the auslogics website and downloaded the software. The download and install process was very easy and quick. The download is about a 8.2 MB file.

Auslogics BoostSpeed Scan

Right after the install process is finished, we are giving a recommendation to scan. The scanner looks like it is looking for 4 specific issues: registry errors, junk files, disk errors, and fragmentation. The scanner finds quite a few issues on the test computer. In fact, in found over 3,000 items that it could fix. One thing we want to point out is that the scan is free. The program will also fix the first 15 problems for free. We purchased the full version so we could test though, so we are able to fix all 3,000 problems.

Results

After we scanned and fixed the issues, we noticed that our test machine was a bit zippier. We also noticed that the program was able to free up some memory. Overall, we were pretty impressed with the job that Auslogics BoostSpeed did. One thing that we do want to note is that if you are a computer super user, you will probably be able to do a lot of the tasks that Auslogics BoostSpeed does on your own. For example, you can manually try to find and remove junk files. You can also defrag on your own as well. However, doing these tasks individually will take you much more time when compared to a commercial software. There are a few exceptions of things that you can’t do on your own such as cleaning the registry though.

System Advisor

Another cool feature that we liked in Auslogics BoostSpeed 5 was the System Advisor. The system advisor gave many specific suggestions to our test PC’s version of Windows on how to further speed up the computer. One example is that it gave the option to disable the Aero effects in Windows 7. For those who don’t know, the Aero effects are the visual effects that add to the look and feel of Windows 7. However, for older computers, it can really help to disable these effects since they use a lot of system resources. This is just one example of a suggestion that Auslogics BoostSpeed gave. There were many more suggestions as well. Again, we do want to point out that for an advanced user, you can find a way to do many of these tasks on your own. However, this tool can save you time and the headache of possibly messing something up. A lot of the things Auslogics BoostSpeed does requires you to mess with system settings.

Conclusion

Overall, we found Auslogics BoostSpeed to be very good and would definitely recommend it for users experiencing a slow PC. We do want to point out that this software is not free. We also want to reiterate that you can do many of the tasks yourself if you have extra time and if you feel comfortable messing with the settings of your computer.

It is quite painful to see your mobile phone dropped in water. However, you are not alone, so don’t be too hard on yourself. A friend of mine had same problem with her iPhone 2. She was away in Thailand on vacation and somehow placed a loosely closed plastic bottle of Pepsi in her bag. When she took out the phone it was completely wet. She could do a couple things. First, she could throw away the iPhone and buy a new one, which is expensive. Second, she could look for the nearest phone repair shop. Last, she could try a few easy steps to see if you she could fix the phone herself.

Keep in mind that the liquid could be just on the surface. Below are some of the things you might notice when the liquid gets inside of the mobile device.

Ringing issues

Power issues

The screen becomes dull and sometimes you can notice the water on the screen

Interface irregularities

Things to do:

Immediately remove the battery or carry out a forced shut down, whichever one makes more sense at the time. You should try to shut down the Smartphone as soon as you notice that it is wet. This is because the electronic components in the phone need to stay dry to avoid harmful crisscrossing of electrical charges and destructive chemical reactions. Therefore, the first thing to do to a Smartphone dropped in water should be shutting it down.

Next, remove all the detachable parts of the Smartphone. By detachable, I’m talking about the back cover, the battery, any memory cards, and then the SIM card. Use a clean, dry cloth to dry the phone. There probably will still be some water inside the phone. You should place the phone and the other components on a clean surface for it to dry.

Another great remedy to try is to next take the smartphone and place it into a bowl of rice. The reason this works is that the rice will draw out and absorb the water. Rotate the phone every hour or so. Overall, you should let it sit in the rice for most of the day.

One thing we want to point out is that you should not use any type of appliance that applies extreme heat. An example of this is a hair dryer. A hair dryer can damage the smartphone if used the wrong way.
It is good to allow more than 24 hours before reassembling and turning on your phone again. At this point, hopefully your Smartphone is back to normal working condition.

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I was asked by a few of my readers lately about what my monthly, or even weekly, computer maintenance schedule looked like. I figured this was a blog-worthy topic. Let’s dive right into what a good computer maintenance schedule looks like.

Weekly PC Maintenance Tasks

There are a few things that should be done on a weekly basis for sure. The first, and probably most important, is to run a virus scan. I would highly recommend setting up some type of automated schedule in your virus protection software so you don’t forget to do this. I personally like to do Friday at lunch for my work PC. This way I am not disrupted by the scan too much.

Another task I would recommend doing weekly or biweekly is defragmenting your hard drive. This will keep your hard drive running efficiently at all times and keep fragmentation at a minimum.

Monthly Computer Maintenance Tasks

There are things that should be done on a monthly basis as well. I like to run a spyware scan monthly to make sure my computer stays spyware free. This is something that could be done more often if you would like. I would recommend Ad-Aware as a good, free spyware scanner.

Another good task to do monthly is cleaning up your disk when it comes to unused programs, folders, and files. I like to delete temporary files and cookies, check to see if I have any unused programs I can delete, and check to see if I have any old docs, videos, pictures, etc that I can delete. Cleaning up your disk monthly can help keep your disk usage low and your hard drive running efficiently.

One last thing I like to do monthly is to clean my registry. This is something that I would consider optional. This is a debated topic as some people say it does wonders and other people think it is not worth the risk. The risk being you could delete a needed registry key. Most registry cleaners backup your registry before cleaning, which should cut down or even eliminate any risk. I personally have not had any problems when using a registry cleaner. Also, I have tested it using performance monitoring tools and noticed that it does help performance a bit. I personally use Registry Booster. However, there are many good registry cleaners on the market.

Prevention is the best security policy. It is best to observe some safety precautions while online and offline. However, no precaution can guarantee a virus free computer. Virus attacks can do all sorts of damage to a computer. They destroy files, corrupt applications, and corrupt data. Let’s delve into how to remove a virus from your computer and things you must do to get your computer up and going one more time.

Limit the Spread of the Virus

The first thing to do when you suspect that a computer has virus is to disconnect the computer from the network. This is necessary to prevent more attacks. Simply put, it is like controlling a disease from spreading.

Removing the Virus

Some viruses are designed to attack operating systems whereas others attack applications only. The best way to get rid of such malicious programs is by having good security software on your computer and making sure it is up-to-date. If you are able to boot up your computer, start by booting into safe mode with networking. In safe mode, run a virus scan with the virus software of your choice. Hopefully the scan is able to find and remove the malicious software. At this point, we also recommend downloading and installing malwarebytes. Open up malwarebytes, update the malware definitions, and then run a scan. Malwarebytes is usually very good at finding and removing viruses and malware. At this point, we recommend restarting into safe mode again and then running another scan to make sure your computer is clean.

If you are unable to remove the virus with your virus software and malwarebytes, try to use the system restore to restore the computer to a previous working condition. This only works if you have a good previous restore point however.

If your system is not rebooting no matter how hard you try, use the installation disc to try to repair the operating system. The installation disc does three things. You can use it for a fresh installation. You can also use it to restore your system. Last, it is used to perform a system restore as well.

You may want to reinstall your operating system in cases where your operating system has been severely damaged by the virus attack. By reinstalling, you will lose files that you have not backed up. Regularly maintaining backups is a good habit. For one reason, the operating system can crash when we least expect it and sometimes just when we need an important piece of data on the hard drive.

Take Future Precautions

Now that the virus is gone, you have to take all the necessary steps to avert future attacks. Some of the things you can do include regularly changing your ISP passwords and email passwords, keeping your virus software up to date, and keeping regular backups in case of future problems.

A password should be a combination of alphabets, numbers, and special characters. It is important to have your password in your head. Jotting it down on a piece of paper or having them in a folder on your desktop is very risky.